


To Cherish Secretly

by DeathDirt



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: But not today, F/M, Fluff, Valentine’s Day fic, blink and you’ll miss it glimpse of angst, for fun, silly fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:33:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29424615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeathDirt/pseuds/DeathDirt
Summary: Guzma and Plumeria get each other the same gift on accident.
Relationships: Guzma/Plumeri | Plumeria (Pokemon)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	To Cherish Secretly

**Author's Note:**

> It’s short, it’s fluffy, I’m very sorry if I’ve used the translations wrong, feel free to laugh if I did. I just wanted to write something cute for the holiday I’m alone for since I don’t want my faves to also be sad and alone.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget just how isolated Po Town is from the rest of Ula’ula. Despite the few hours’ walk between Malie City and home, Guzma feels startled by how...un-holiday-ed it is. Malie has hearts and pink ribbons on every last light pole and storefront, bright, rich cakes displayed with pride in their cute little heart shapes with all the red and pink and violet the world could offer, traveling performers getting cash tossed at them for mediocre hoop jumping alongside bored Luvdisc and Cleffa, and then Po Town. Same as ever, dull and dreary Po Town. Arceus, is it nice to be so far away from all of that.

Some of the grunts will do little things for V-Day, but most of them - as well as Guzma and Plumeria - just use the holiday as an excuse to snatch tons of candy from unsuspecting “lovestruck” horny teens. To be fair, the holiday is meant to be a couples’ thing, and most of the grunts aren’t really interested in each other. There’s a few pairs - two of the oldest kids, Cam and Gunner, seem to be borderline sweet on each other - but not many. Guzma and Plumeria happen to be one of those pairs.

...Sort of.

Guzma lifts the cardboard lid up repeatedly from the box that sits in his lap. He’d love to confidently say that he and Plumeria are a romantically-involved couple. Except most days he can’t tell if Plumeria actually likes him or not. Blame that on Miss Losing-Her-Mind for making him distrustful and suspicious as fuck, but Guzma genuinely can’t figure out how into him Plumeria is. It’s something she does to keep the grunts banded together, Guzma thinks, but Plumeria’s very consistent tough love big sister attitude throws him off. When they’re more or less alone, she’s seemed very interested, even kissing him while they stood on the front step of the destroyed mansion in the moonlight (very romantic), then when anyone so much as breathes in their direction, Plumeria stiffens up and tries to act like it didn’t happen. 

Maybe, if nothing else, Guzma can hand over this gift today to get his intention across. It’s not a perfect plan, not by any means, but with luck, Plumeria will say yes or no and then Guzma can stop wrecking himself over it.

The creature inside the box scrabbles at the cardboard with sharp claws, creating a spine-tingling rasp. Guzma carefully opens up the box to toss some berries in, then quickly shuts it again. The rasping dies down as the little thing starts to eat. Hopefully it won’t melt the box before he can get it to Plumes.

Guzma taps his foot on the floor as he sits on his bed, trying to figure out when the best time would be to hand it over. Or maybe he should sit the box in Plumeria’s room while he sends her off for an hour or two, let her come back to it and see the kind of lengths Guzma will go to in order to impress a girl he’s been living with for twelve years or so now. ...But, if he does that, he’s gonna forget it, and besides that, if the little thing gets out of the box, it may start melting Plumeria’s hoard of plushies, and that’s a one-way ticket to hell, no refunds, exchanges, or credit.

No, the best plan is to just go to her room and hand it over. Guzma inhales deeply, tapping his fingertips lightly on the box’s lid. Over six months of looking to find this little gift, and he’s still nervous that Plumeria’s going to hate it. She might. Much as he’d love to say he knows exactly what Plumeria likes, Guzma is not that confident. 

Guzma shakes his head. He can’t sit in his room all day wondering if Plumeria is going to like his gift or not. Just get it over with so if she _does_ hate it, he can have more time to mope and regret his very existence until bedtime.

Box carefully in hand, Guzma stands from his bed and walks to his door. When he opens it, he startles. Plumeria is standing just in front of him, fist raised to knock on the door he’s just yanked away. “Oh. You going somewhere?”

“Uh. No?”

“Good. I gotta talk to you.”

Guzma steps to the side to let Plumeria in. She’s holding her arms behind her back in an odd way, but Guzma doesn’t comment on it. “I guess I wouldn’t have a choice if I _was_ going somewhere.”

Plumeria snorts as she turns around. “Nope.” Guzma rolls his eyes with a fond smile playing across his face. No more awkward than usual, which helps a little bit to put his nerves at ease. “So, look. I know we don’t usually do shit for this holiday but...” As Plumeria trails off, Guzma notices her start fidgeting. Plumeria’s good at hiding when she’s nervous, it keeps the grunts from losing morale, but there’s no hiding from the boss. She bites the inside of her cheek, curls her toes inside her sneakers; small, innocuous things that Guzma recognizes as her nervous tics. “I don’t know!” She suddenly snaps, forcing Guzma to focus back on her. “But-“

“Hold up, I, uh... I wanna give you somethin’. Just, y’know, before I forget.” Guzma rubs his thumb on the edge of the box. “It’s not much, but. I don’t know...”

Plumeria chuckles. “Is it a bottle of lube and morning-after pills? Because I know you hate those.”

Guzma’s face burns at the very suggestion. He hadn’t even considered-! Even if Plumeria is totally right, he can’t stand pills of any kind and somehow birth control always goes down the worst (he still takes them if he and Plumeria fool around though). “N-no! It’s just... Like you said, we don’t really do much for the day, but I wanted you to have something. To...know how I feel. About you, specifically. Because dead flowers and shitty chocolate wouldn’t do it right.” 

Plumeria laughs softly again, but she waits patiently for Guzma to show off this gift. Guzma swallows down spit as he carefully lifts the top off the plain box. 

He could swear that the night sky flashes in Plumeria’s eyes when she recognizes what she’s looking at. A Salandit, with skin as white as pure, fresh snow off of Lanakila, contrasted starkly against the dark grey color of its head and the vibrant scarlet mark along its tail. “Woah... Guz...” Guzma sets the box down on his bed and lifts the little Pokémon out. 

“I know you and Salazzle are a pair, and nothing’s gonna change all the time you two have. But I figured that maybe you’d like more of a pet? O-or somethin’, I don’t care if you just toss her out to the trash or whatever, but, here.” Guzma thinks that he may actually cry if Plumeria shoves away the shiny Salandit now. Especially after all the burns and melted skin he had to suffer through to get her. Jokes aside, Guzma holds the Salandit out to Plumeria, hoping that at least she can see why he got her what he did. 

Rather than taking her, Plumeria slaps one hand over her mouth and her eyes go wide. “Guz...” She mumbles behind her palm. Guzma holds the Salandit against his chest now, worried that something’s wrong, until Plumeria whips her other hand from behind her back, holding a very small wrapped box of her own. The wrapping paper looks like stereotypical V-Day fare at first, but Guzma notices the pattern after Plumeria starts tearing it away - pink pairs of Ribombee holding hands with one another, couple after couple stamped across the paper. 

Plumeria’s laughter is nearly hysterical by the time she gets to the box underneath. “I’m... Are you...fucking _serious_?!” She’s practically breathless as she lifts the adorable little bug from the box. A Wimpod, but rather than pale green, its shell is bone white, with gray triangles down its back and bright crimson for its tail and face. “I looked for one for freaking _weeks_ , and then I caught this little guy trying to steal some food out of the trash at the Mantine surf spot on the other side of the Route!”

Guzma can hardly breathe with the force of his own laughter. “Are you serious?! I was looking for this chick for six _months_!”

“Months?! Guz, are you fucking crazy? For fuckin’ V-Day?!” 

Both of them are out of breath from yelling and laughing at one another, doubled over while the two Pokémon glance curiously between them. Guzma digs the heel of his palm into one eye in an awful attempt to keep a few tears from flowing. His grin is so wide that it starts to hurt except he can’t stop smiling so much. “How the fuck...did we get the same fucking idea?” Guzma asks, followed by a weak laugh. 

Plumeria shakes her head and snorts. Then she pauses. “Hold up... Show me the Pokéball you caught her in.” Guzma shuffles around for the discarded box and pulls out the pink ball. A Love Ball, to be exact. They’d been out getting sold on a little roadside stand and Guzma had snagged one about to fall off, and luckily it was the only one he needed. Plumeria snorts again, then pulls a matching Love Ball from her own pocket. “I know it’s kinda cheesy but I figured it might help...”

“Wait, wait, wait. Help what?”

Plumeria goes quiet again, borderline shy. “Help you see how I feel about you,” she mumbles. “I know I’m not great at showing how I really feel, especially with you. I’m so used to sucking it up for the team’s sake that I can kind of forget that I really do love you.”

Guzma shifts back to lean against the leg of his bed frame . “Oh.”

Plumeria reaches over to smack his arm. “Not like that!” She huffs and crosses her arms. “Idiot,” she mumbles, pink tinge over her cheeks. “I wanted to do something nice for you. Make sure you know I still love you. For real.” Plumeria slides closer across the floor, leaning to rest her head against Guzma’s shoulder. Out of pure habit and instinct, Guzma hangs his arm on Plumeria’s shoulders. “You did know I love you, right?”

“Pfft, of course. Knew the whole time.”

“Mm-hm.”

“What? I’m serious! Had absolute confidence in ya.”

“Right.” Plumeria pushes up to lay a quick kiss on Guzma’s cheek. “It’s ok if you weren’t sure, tough guy. I won’t hold it against you.” She settles back on the floor to snuggle up to her boyfriend, resting her head on Guzma’s shoulder while she closes her eyes. The two small Pokémon scurry around, sniffing or scratching at the fairly new place they’ve just been introduced to. Plumeria cracks one eye open to watch with the boss. “Gonna name him?”

“Mm. Yeah.”

“What’re you thinking?”

“Pua. Just ‘cuz the girl that caught him is so damn beautiful.” He pulls Plumeria closer with the arm around her shoulders and grins when she laughs. “You gonna name your present, too?”

The shiny Salandit creeps over, cautiously placing one foot in front of the other as she comes nearer. Slowly, she pulls herself into Plumeria’s lap, circling a few times before she plops her fat lizard butt down for a nap. Plumeria laughs quietly at her new pet. She runs her fingertips gently over the black extensions on the pretty lizard’s neck. “Yeah. Hōkeo. I think it fits her.”

Guzma feels his cheeks warm up as little Pua scuttles over and onto his shoulder. He pets the little bug absently, then smiles to himself. With the arm around Plumeria’s shoulders, he tugs her closer, pressing his lips on the top of her head in a silent kiss.

“That sounds good.”


End file.
